Blogmas 2016: Beauty Bay and Sephora Haul (Gifts to Myself?)

I’m going to pass these hauls as early Christmas gifts to myself because I’m not above blatantly cheating on my low-buy. 😆
I ordered the Beauty Bay items on November 24th and it finally arrived on December 16th! The Sephora haul is from the VIB coupon – for VIB Rouge, the coupon is $25 off $50 minimum spend. I wasted no time in placing my order! 😀

Beauty Bay

I really did not set out to haul from Beauty Bay but I happened to click on a link on some blog previewing Black Friday sales – I was on the site on the Thursday night before official Black Friday but the sale was live already. The deals were too good to pass up (I concentrated on brands that were 25-30% off) and everything was in stock! I went back to look on the Friday morning and all of the items I had ordered were already sold out. It was a sign, I tell you! 😛 Here’s what I got:
• Anna Sui Gift Tin (£3.12 / C$5.20)
• Anna Sui Makeup Palette #2 (£7.50 / C$12.60)
• Anna Sui Eye & Face Colour Angel Feather A500 Tree (£3.93 / C$6.60)
• Anna Sui Eye & Face Colour Velvet Corsage V500 Amber (£5.62 / C$9.40)
These were all from the new Anna Sui revamped packaging line. Just look at the packaging and the case! I can’t believe how affordable everything was.
• Illamasqua Powder Blusher Disobey (£10.91 / C$18.30)
• Illamasqua Powder Eye Shadow in Heroine (£8.18 / C$13.70)
I’d missed out on the much hyped Heroine eye shadow when Hudson’s Bay was clearing out their inventory – it sold out before I had a chance to grab one – I was happy to snag it on sale for 30% off.
• Oskia Renaissance Cleansing Gel (£21.06 / C$35.40)
This product only recently came into my radar but I was really curious about its texture of gel to oil. Getting it on sale was just icing on the cake!
• FACE Atelier Ultra Foundation in Wheat (£16.24 / C$27.30)
This is one of those makeup artist industry insider cult products that I’ve been wanting to try for ages, but it’s difficult to get a hold of. It’s supposed to give the most flawless complexion without the need for primer.
• Ellis Faas Creamy Eyes E116 Lilac (£9.88 / C$16.60)
A niche Dutch brand with striking packaging that I’ve always wanted to try – these are shaped like elongated bullets and fit into holders that resemble machine gun bullet clips. This particular colour was 50% off so I jumped on it.
• ARTDECO Eyeshadow Brush Premium (£8.82 / C$14.80)
• Louise Young Mini Socket Brush (£7.28 / C$12.20)
More brushes, of course. The Artdeco brush looks a lot like the MAC 239 Shader brush… for less than half of MAC’s price.

Sephora

I got myself a customizable palette from Anastasia Beverly Hills, filled with 4 shadows of my own choosing! The singles sell regularly for C$16 each, and the empty 4-pan palette is C$8 if purchased separately. Sephora offers the filled palette for C$56 which is a $74 value. I used my C$25 off coupon toward this so it cost me C$31 total. 🙂
After much research and swatching at the store, I chose: Chiffon, Comfort, Chocolate Crumble, and Rosette. I’m very excited to try these!

And this time around, I actually remembered to select my 3 samples with my order:
I chose: Dior Rouge lipstick samples (these are all mattes though hrm), MIU MIU eau de parfum, and Acqua Di Parma Rosa Nobile eau de parfum samples.

Merry Christmas TO ME! 😉 Did you buy yourself any early Christmas presents?

OMG that Anna Sui palette is SO pretty! I don’t think we have that brand in the US (or at least I’ve never seen it). And good job catching the sale before all the goodies were sold out 😀 I missed out on a few things because I waited too long but there is always next year 😀

Well I didn’t do Black Friday last year so I’m making up for it. Anna Sui is such a niche brand – I bet they’re only really sold in specialty stores or just online anymore. I’m rather proud of myself for snagging these deals! 😀

I just can’t refuse a sale… I’m eagerly awaiting post-holiday discounts already! 😛
I don’t think that Ciate Chloe Morello Set is available in Canada – I just looked it up and it looks stunning! I can’t wait to see your swatches of it.

Those are Anastasia Beverly Hills eye shadows, not Make Up For Ever. But last year I did redeem my VIB coupon for Make Up For Ever customizaible compact so I seem to have a habit of doing that… 😛
The Anna Sui packaging just gets me every time.

Those ABH single shadows look great! I have one of their single shadows and I’m happy with it and would pick up more.

I just bought myself a Christmas present last week, I ordered the Too Faced Sweet Peach Palette which arrived today in the mail. I’ve been ever so patiently waiting for it to come back since it sold out in record time in the spring! Not that I need another palette, but Peach anything holds a really special and sentimental place in my heart.

I’m interested to know what you think about the Oskia Renaissance Cleansing Gel and the Ellis Faas cream shadow – I’ve heard so many good things about this brand!
Oooh, fantastic picks on the ABH palette! Very excited to hear how they pan out for you.

I wish Sephora provided a better selection of samples! I know I made my order super late (last day of the sale) and a lot of things were probably gone, but 90% of the samples I had to choose from were perfumes.

Hmmm…maybe I should check out Beauty Bay for Boxing Day sales! They have so many brands that I’ve been meaning to check out forever, but I feel like it may open a Pandora’s Box…

I will definitely share my thoughts on the Oskia Cleansing Gel and the Ellis Faas!
The sample selection at Sephora is really slim pickings lately. I think probably due to the VIB sale.
Yes, definitely keep your eyes peeled for Beauty Bay deals post-holidays – I bet it will be just as good as the Black Friday stuff! They have amazing niche brands we can’t get as easily here – plus free shipping if you order C$25 which is a very low amount.

I was about to say that tree doesn’t look lame at all, but then I saw the new one and omg! It’s HUGE! I guess anything would look lame compared to that tree! Love the ABH quad! Comfort and Rosette look so pretty!

Haha, mostly people were complaining that the tree wasn’t so much a tree than strings of light because the center of it was hollow. Previously, they had a traditional tree decorated top to bottom with Swarovski crystals (they had to have a security guard standing at the tree at all times) I think they outdid themselves this year with the massive tree – they are claiming it’s the largest Christmas tree in Canada! 🙂

What a bargain!!! Merry Christmast to you indeed. Those sale ads are definitely an evil click bait. I almost fell for the etude house sale, but thanks to high shipping fees, I didn’t finalise the purchase.

How does that brush actually performance against MAC 239? Oooo and review on the Illumasque blushes 😍😍😍 what’s the queue time for these items? You have so many hauls 😜😂

The sales were evil this year… I couldn’t refuse! I also bought some MAC stuff but shipping was a mess so I won’t get my order until January! The Beauty Bay had free shipping so that was all the push I needed to order away… 😛

I haven’t opened the Artdeco brush yet but it feels SUPER soft and possibly too soft… we shall see.

My haul post will be up tomorrow, but it’s nothing compared to what you bought…

By the way, I too buy (Christmas) gifts for myself. I think that’s perfectly OK! On the other hand side… sometimes I think that making peace with my hoarding hasn’t helped me. Now I’m like “yeah, I buy it… I’m a hoarder anyway, so what difference does it make…” which is really dangerous.

Merry Christmas to you indeed! I got myself two Anastasia eyeshadows too and so far I LOVE them. I’m such an idiot though, I don’t know why I didn’t pick up two more and make myself a little palette like you did. Love the shades you chose – Chocolate Crumble looks really pretty.